


Always Bloom Next To Me

by eyesofjihoon (taesquared)



Series: 너와 나눈 모든 계절이 소중해 (all of the seasons we shared are so precious) [5]
Category: AB6IX (Band), Wanna One (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Established Relationship, Fluff, Jihoon's Eyes Remain The Most Beautiful, M/M, Other PD101 Boys Mentioned/Cameo, Romantic Fluff, Side Jeon Woong/Park Woojin, Surprise Visits
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-24
Updated: 2019-06-24
Packaged: 2020-05-18 18:31:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,409
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19340182
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/taesquared/pseuds/eyesofjihoon
Summary: As Seongwoo might say, "My love, it is you who is the most beautiful for these fleeting blossoms merely pale in comparison." Or maybe Daniel just made that up, who knows?





	Always Bloom Next To Me

**Author's Note:**

> \- Cross-posted on AFF: https://www.asianfanfics.com/story/view/1407420/always-bloom-next-to-me

Daniel couldn’t stop smiling. In just three hours, he was going to see his boyfriend after almost two painstaking weeks of being away on business travel in faraway Chuncheon. And the best part? Jihoon had no idea, and Daniel was way too giddy to be cramped into a tiny cushioned train seat. He knew the woman next to him was already judging him for fidgeting so much, so he did his best to turn the other way and stare out the window.

Three more hours.

Maybe he should sleep and let time trickle on by. He closed his eyes and let his mind wander.

When he first found out the trip would cut straight through Jihoon’s birthday, he quickly harbored an even bigger grudge on his good-for-nothing supervisor. Of course his loving boyfriend had merely said:

“Daniel, it’s fine. It’s just a birthday.”

To which Daniel had squawked, “Just a birthday?”

And then Jihoon had laughed, “Yes, my love, _just_ a birthday,” and then kissed his nose.

“I’m not going to die just because you’re not by my side on this singular, marginally more special day. Every day I get to be with you is special.”

And _fuck,_ if Daniel hadn’t swooned at that (as corny as it was).

“But we’ll be apart for two weeks…”

“Oh, you baby,” Jihoon cooed and pinched Daniel’s cheek. “I’ll call you everyday. And we can always celebrate when you get back, hm?”

 _And celebrate they would,_ Daniel had said before swooping in for a more heated kiss.

Now that he was on his way back, he was more determined than ever to please his boyfriend and make up for lost time.

 _Calm thyself, do_ not _get hard in public while wearing slacks._

He crossed his legs for extra security.

He glanced at his phone and wondered if he should’ve told his supervisor that he was bailing out of their end-of-the-week work party, but figured the guy was probably too hungover from the mojitos and cocktails from the night before to care. In any case, he had no reason to be mad at Daniel anyway—today, as he had learned after arriving at the hotel two weeks ago, was reserved to be a “relaxation day”, and the party would fall in the evening.

Relaxing? Daniel was already doing it, by being nowhere near his boss.   

 

*******

Daniel woke up to the woman beside him shaking his arm.

“We’re here,” she said, impatient. Daniel barely muttered a groggy _thank you_ when she quickly reached for her luggage and stormed off the train, never to be seen again.

After grasping his bearings, he stepped out onto the platform, luggage in tow. The warm air caressed his face and he could smell the faint comforting whiff of the sea. Overhead, a bright and innocent sign welcomed him to Busan and he immediately grinned as all traces of sleep washed away.

_I’m home._

*******

“Let’s take five.”

The members of Energetic scattered in all directions, some heading straight for the door for a bathroom break while others remained in their positions to go over moves. Tomorrow was the last performance day of the semester and everyone—especially Jihoon and his co-leader, Woojin—was just a bit high-strung.

As soon as Woojin called for a break, Jihoon scurried to his backpack to check his phone. He sniffed when Daniel still hadn’t responded to his last message—seven hours ago.

 _What is he doing,_ he worried with a furrowed brow. He hated being the clingy boyfriend—of _course_ he knew Daniel was busy on his trip—and resisted the urge to send yet another cat video, just in case it would maybe jolt Daniel out of his silent spell.

He sighed.

“Hey, hyung?”

Jihoon looked up to see Guanlin walking towards him.

“Hey,” he greeted and pocketed his phone away.

“Can you help me with this move,” Guanlin asked, demonstrating with long, lanky limbs. “How do you transition from this…” _Shuffle. Step. Shuffle._ “…to this?”

Jihoon chuckled at his awkward novice movements before getting up and helping the rookie dancer count out the beats.

 

***

“Why, my dear, I think you have quite the eye for flowers. Are you sure you’ve never done this before? This is lovely!”

Daniel blushed as the old storekeeper wrapped his handmade bouquet of carefully selected bouvardias, carnations, hydrangeas, and hyacinths in patterned baby pink tissue paper. He shook his head.

“I merely did my best. It’s really all thanks to your wonderful advice.”

“Aw, shush, now, don’t be so modest! Give yourself some credit,” she said with a hearty laugh, her eyes crinkling with age, masked with a youthful playfulness. “May I ask who it’s for? She must be one very lucky woman.”

She handed the beautifully wrapped bouquet to Daniel and he chuckled as he paid for the flowers.

“It’s for someone very special to me,” he said, and breathed in the subtle aroma of a hydrangea.

The storekeeper smiled.

“Oh, I’m sure you’re a keeper yourself,” she said with a laugh. “Best wishes to you, child. Come again soon!”

Daniel bowed with gratitude and bade her a wonderful night.

 

*******

 

"And please, for the love of God, do _not_ forget your outfits." Jihoon threw a pointed stare at Hyeongseob, who cowered under his gaze. The incident from a few months ago still haunted him but it served as a powerful reminder of Jihoon’s wrath.

"And don't over-practice tonight," Woojin added. "The last thing we need is someone dropping out last minute because they sprained their ankle. Choi Yoojung."

"It was one time!" Yoojung screeched, inciting laughter among the dancers.

"When's call time," Doyeon asked.

Jihoon clapped. "Ah, right. Everyone, _pay attention,_ our call time is 2:00 p.m. Again, that’s _2:00 p.m._ We’ll meet out in front of this building and then make our way to the student union. Woojin has told me we need to be ready to go through sound check at 2:30 so _maybe_ we can squeeze in a final run of the set, but—"

He was interrupted when the studio door shyly opened, and upon seeing who the visitor was, he gasped and couldn't hold back an embarrasingly squeaky whine.

“Why are you here!?”

_"Huh? Oh my God, Daniel-sunbae?"_

_"Niel-hyung?"_

_"Ah, Niel-oppa!"_

_“Niel, you’re back!”_

Within seconds, Daniel, looking like he stepped out of a _manhwa,_ still clad in his black dress pants, suit coat, white dress shirt and tie, was quickly surrounded by eager and ecstatic dancers, all with giddy faces and gaping expressions. He happily greeted his _hoobaes_ —many of them he hadn’t seen in a while—and waved hello to the newer members who stared with palpable wonder at who this tall, handsome, bouquet-holding stranger was—and why he was so damn popular.

The crowd parted when Jihoon walked up to him with Woojin trailing right behind him.

"Hello, Jihoon," Daniel flashed his most radiant smile and handed him his bouquet.

"You—why are you here," Jihoon groaned, suddenly feeling very self-conscious in his sweat-slicked shirt and mangled hair. "You're not supposed to be here today, I was going to pick you up from the train station tomorrow!"

"And here I thought you'd be happy to see me. I’m hurt," Daniel jokingly pouted.

Jihoon scoffed as he stared down Daniel’s outfit. "Aren't you hot in that? Why didn’t you change before you came, I—"

He let out a horrified squeal when Daniel suddenly pulled him in for a hug, unabashed in front of the entire dance team.  

"Dan— _hyung_ , I'm _gross!"_

A chorus of adoring sighs rippled among the dancers and Jihoon flushed from the attention. He shivered when he felt Daniel whisper into his ear.

"Baby, I haven't hugged you in two weeks. Let me have this."

Jihoon wiggled out of the hug, indignant. He turned to the admiring crowd.

"Oh my God, go home," he chided, shooing everyone away with a very prominent blush. Titters of laughter erupted as the dancers began to scatter.

"Call time is 2:00 p.m!" Woojin reminded as he too gathered his things, leaving the couple to themselves.

Daniel leaned in to kiss Jihoon's (very warm) forehead.

"God, I missed you so much."

Jihoon whined again and hit Daniel’s chest. “Why didn’t you tell me you were coming home early, I haven’t even cleaned the apartment yet!”

Daniel laughed. “I wanted to surprise you.”

“I was going to cook for you too,” Jihoon grumbled, but allowed Daniel to take his hand as they walked over to where his stuff was.

“We can still cook something together. The night is still young. Have you eaten?”

“No,” Jihoon said. “But aren’t you train-lagged?” He made out the faint dark circles under Daniel’s eyes. “Did you even sleep?”

“I slept on the train! It was difficult, to say the least. Those seats are way too cramped.”

As they passed Hyungseob and Euiwoong, Daniel cheekily fist-bumped them both with a parting promise to catch up with them soon.

"How'd you even manage to escape? Your boss isn’t gonna give you hell on Monday, right?"

Daniel snorted. “You mean _if_ he comes in Monday. He’s still hungover from last night.”

Jihoon had met Daniel’s boss in his inebriated form before at a happy hour and the sight was equal parts amusing and concerning.

“And we had a free day,” Daniel explained. “So I took the first train back to Busan. I would’ve come earlier, but I had to deal with the hotel staff and book a taxi and whatnot.”

Jihoon blinked.

"You had a free day?"

"Yeah," Daniel grinned, understanding his confusion. “I didn’t know either, until Boss told us after we arrived at the hotel.” He clicked his tongue, internally scolding his superior again for leaving out such an important detail.

“And you came back when you could’ve been, oh, I don’t know, sightseeing?”

“You mean getting even more wasted on terrible shots?” Daniel laughed. "Why are you so surprised? What, you thought I'd stay an extra day away from you? Those two weeks were _torture._ "

"I—"

Jihoon felt his heart swell with something akin to the L word. Hiding a smile, he squeezed Daniel’s hand.

"Does he know?"

"Know what?"

"That you're here. In Busan."

"Oh," Daniel shrugged, nonchalant. "Guess not."

 _"What?"_ Jihoon scolded with another hit to his chest. _“Daniel!”_

"Oops," Daniel laughed, very much enjoying an adorably distressed Jihoon.

"How am I gonna deal with you," Jihoon muttered and zipped up his backpack.

"Here." Daniel reached for the backpack and slung it over one shoulder, ignoring Jihoon’s, _I can carry it myself, you know_. It was heavier than he expected.

With a grin, he took Jihoon's hand as the younger curiously inspected and sniffed at the many different and colorful blossoms in his hands.

"These are lovely. Where did you get them?"

"There's this shop on Route 5. They had good reviews so I gave it a try."

Jihoon gazed at him warmly.

"They're beautiful. Thank you."

 _My love, it is you who is the most beautiful for these fleeting blossoms merely pale in comparison,_ he thought to himself, mimicking Seongwoo’s voice in his head.

Daniel replied with another kiss to his forehead.

"Good night, Guanlin-ah," Jihoon called out to one of their newer members, who was currently going over some moves with Jinyoung. "Good night, Jinyoung."

"Ah, good night, hyung! See you tomorrow!"

"Good night, hyungs!"

"Don't stay too late!"

Jihoon then caught sight of Woojin, who was still practicing with their newest member.

"Woong-hyung," Jihoon called out and the brown-haired boy in question looked up.

"Oh, Jihoon-sunbae," he greeted with a teasing lilt. "Hi, Niel-hyung."

 _"Sunbae?"_ Daniel raised a comical eyebrow.

Jihoon laughed, unused to having someone older address him so formally.

“Woongie, you’re performing?”

Woong nodded bashfully as Jihoon explained.

"Woojin finally got to him—Woong-hyung joined last week, but he's already performing tomorrow."

"Holy shit," Daniel said in awe. "Why didn't you join earlier, man?"

Woong replied with a sheepish scratch of his neck. "Stage fright, I guess. But Woojinie here wouldn't stop pestering me to join—as you know, he was getting _really_ annoying, so I gave in."

As if on cue, Woojin hopped onto Woong's back and wrapped his arms around the elder's neck, shifting his center of gravity. Daniel raised an eyebrow when Woong merely responded with a pat to Woojin's hands and then to his cheek.

"Are you coming to see us tomorrow?"

"I think Jihoonie here would kill me if I didn't," Daniel joked. “Which reminds me, I better prepare my slogan. What do you say, Woong, do you prefer Innocent Bunny Jihoon, or Sexy Six Pack Jihoon?”

Jihoon pinched his arm and Daniel yelped.

Woong just laughed.

"Have you guys had dinner yet," he asked.

"No, we haven't."

Woong tapped at Woojin's hands again and the younger jumped off. “Maybe we can all eat together then. Woojin and I were going to get _jjajjangmyeon._ ”

Jihoon shared a glance with Daniel.

“That sounds like a good idea,” Daniel responded, eyeing the way Woojin suddenly got into position to do a handstand, facing away from the other three as if they didn’t exist. “Less cooking for us.”

“Great!” Woong turned to Woojin, who was back to standing right side up and was about to do another when Woong’s loud and infectious laughter burst forth. “Babe, I think it’s time to _hajima—_ you’ll hurt yourself.”  

Daniel felt his eyes go wide. _Babe?_

Meanwhile, Jihoon was completely unfazed.

“Are they—”

“Yep.”

“But how did—did they just—”

“Uh huh.”

“But _when?_ ”

“Last week.”

Daniel blinked, and exhaled a sigh of relief.

“…Well, fucking _finally.”_

“Indeed.”

“Ready to go?” Woong was now holding onto an adorably blushing Woojin’s hand, seemingly unaware of how much he was affecting the younger. “Woojin here wants to go to that place on Route 11. Apparently they have good reviews.”

“What’s it called?”

As Woong continued to rattle off details about this _swanky new hip jjajjangmyeon place_ to Jihoon, Daniel smiled. He didn’t miss the way Woojin adjusted his fingers to thread through Woong’s, nor did he miss the way the younger smiled brighter whenever Woong so much as looked in his direction.

He knew that feeling, he thought, as his gaze fell once again on his special someone. Jihoon was laughing at something Woong had said, his eyes forming those beautiful crescents Daniel adored so much. Hydrangeas and hyacinths be damned.

_It’s good to be home._

**Author's Note:**

> \- I meant to post this last week but I suck. I'm still missing NielWink though, so what's new? 
> 
> \- Woong has Woong-ed his way into my heart and I love him. Hurt him and I'll attack you. 
> 
> \- Daniel posted twice on Instagram today (and Jihoon posted once), so I guess I'm eating these crumbs tonight. 
> 
> \- Follow me on Twitter (@eyesofjihoon) and/or talk to me here! >> ask.fm/taesquared


End file.
